


Not Enough; Better Than Nothing

by rei_c



Series: Mashups and Crossovers [10]
Category: Alita: Battle Angel (2019), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, The Hale Pack - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 10:36:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20965160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rei_c/pseuds/rei_c
Summary: Alita thinks she's going to have to fight her way to Nova by herself. Apparently her dad's been recruiting for her.





	Not Enough; Better Than Nothing

"Cheer up, pretty girl," the man says. 

Strangely, from him, it seems less like a threat or a flirtation than something honest and more than half heartbroken. She glances over, takes him in: long legs, shaved head, barely a glint of metal anywhere. He's not leering at her, though; he looks as bad as he sounds. Alita lifts her chin in greeting, asks, "Is there anything to be cheerful about?" 

The man shifts, reaches into a bag at his side. He tosses Alita a bun that, she finds when she bites into it, is filled with honey and nuts and some type of fruit she doesn't recognise. While she chews, he takes a swig from the thermos next to him; it smells like chocolate and caffeine, not the alcohol she expected. 

"Sometimes I think so," he says. He glances up; Alita's not sure what he's searching for. "I tried it once, too," he says, abruptly. Alita furrows her brow, shakes her head. "Zalem. Nova. Putting a stop to the segregation." He looks down, chuckles a little. "Ended about as well for me as it did for you." He meets her eyes, then, and Alita's heart skips a beat. He has the gleam of a man who understands pain and doesn't care how much he has to suffer if it means he reaches his goal. "Your father got in touch with me, told me about your plan. I've been watching you. You play well. There's some techniques you have that I think -- anyway, it's not important." 

"What _is_ important?" she asks. 

He gives her a hard, lined smile. "We're going to help you take down Nova. Whatever you need, whatever we can do, we will." 

Alita frowns, shakes her head a little in confusion as she looks around. "We?" 

He clicks his tongue and five pairs of glowing red eyes emerge from the shadows behind him. Alita's heart skips a beat but the man laughs, says, "They won't hurt you. They won't hurt anyone down here." He makes another noise in the back of his throat and the eyes coalesce into mechanical dogs, all of them the size of wolves. They look dangerous, lips curved in snarls, foaming oil from their mouths, their claws tip-tapping on the ground. Once they get closer, though, the demeanor changes. One of them sprawls out across the man's lap, one licks at his ear, the other three all curl in close and start whining. The man grins, coos at them, pets them all and somehow manages to escape getting cut by the sharp corners and brittle edges of metal. "My pack," he tells her. "And not just wolves." 

The one behind the man meets Alita's eyes and a shiver of recognition runs down her spine. "They're cyborgs. They're _human_." 

"In one sense, yes," the man says. It's evident that he hears Alita's horror but doesn't care much about it. "There was enough of them to rescue the essence of who they are. That -- was about all. But like you and your Hugo, I couldn't give them up. Couldn't leave them for dead, couldn't accept being alone, couldn't -- I just couldn't. So I rescued what I could and put them in here. It's not enough," he says, looking down at the wolf spread over his feet, something tender and ripped raw and dead in his expression, "but it's better than nothing." 

It takes a moment for him to speak again, takes the wolf in his lap leaning up and licking the underside of his chin, but he says, "I'll help you. I owe Nova and his minions about as much as you do -- and I'll see my debt paid sooner, rather than later." 

Alita grins at him and holds out her hand. "Alita," she says. "Welcome."


End file.
